Many countries strictly curtail cigarette advertising, including the United States.
In
April 1970, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act
banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio
starting on 2 January 1971. The Virginia Slims brand was the last
commercial shown, with "a 60-second revue from flapper to Female
Lib", shown at 11:59 p.m. on 1 January during a break on The
Tonight Show. Smokeless tobacco ads, on the other hand, remained on
the air until a ban took effect on 28 August 1986. Recently, even
further restrictions took effect under the newly enacted Family
Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Effective 22 June 2010,
the new regulations prohibit tobacco companies from sponsoring
sports, music, and other cultural events. Also, tobacco companies can
no longer display their logos or advertise their products on
T-shirts, hats, or other apparel. Eventually, the law is planned to
require almost all tobacco advertisements to consist of black text on
a white background, but the constitutionality of that requirement has
come under scrutiny. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_advertising
In
the terrorist attacks on 9/11 almost 3,000 people died. Would anyone
care to guess the deaths and mayhem that alcohol causes yearly? I
suppose that since this evil is not as sensational as 9/11, we
discount it—a very sobering thought, a decision model based upon
sensationalism. My question is a simple one, when will America come
to its senses and ban alcohol advertisements? Why has it not done so
as in the case of tobacco? Ask yourself, as a child would you rather have a chain smoker for a father or a drunk? Are we blind or simply extensively
compromised and satiated by the best indoctrination money can buy?
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